Ron Dellums, late liberal icon, honored in Oakland music festival

Piper Dellums honors her father at the Ronald V. Dellums International Day of Peace Music Festival in Oakland.

Piper Dellums honors her father at the Ronald V. Dellums International Day of Peace Music Festival in Oakland.

Photo: Roland Li / The Chronicle

Photo: Roland Li / The Chronicle

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Piper Dellums honors her father at the Ronald V. Dellums International Day of Peace Music Festival in Oakland.

Piper Dellums honors her father at the Ronald V. Dellums International Day of Peace Music Festival in Oakland.

Photo: Roland Li / The Chronicle

Ron Dellums, late liberal icon, honored in Oakland music festival

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More than a hundred people gathered Sunday for an Oakland music festival honoring Ron Dellums, the late congressman and former mayor who died July 30 at age 82.

Eight bands from the East Bay performed at the event, the first of what the Dellums family hopes will become an annual concert. Performances spanned blues, soul and indie rock.

The family also is working with Rep. Barbara Lee, Dellums’ successor and protege, to designate Sept. 9 as Ronald V. Dellums International Day of Peace.

Dellums, a Marine, became an outspoken voice against the Vietnam War and other conflicts while serving 13 terms in Congress. He later became chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee.

“He was a man who fought for all of humanity,” Piper Dellums, his daughter, said onstage. “He was a man that said ... ‘People will not be oppressed and depressed, brutalized, traumatized and treated like lesser than while I have breath in my lungs.’”